Two Weeks Vacation, I mean, Suspension
by Alyson Trotter
Summary: Post-"The Trial of Leslie Knope" fic. The morning after the trial, Leslie wakes up to Ben and the big question: what will she do with two weeks off from work? Warning: more fluffy than originally intended.


_**fic: Two weeks vacation...er, suspension**___  
>Title: Two weeks vacation...er, suspension<br>Word Count: ~1,000  
>Spoilers: through "The Trial of Leslie Knope"<br>Rating: PG-13ish (one swear, waking up in bed with slight insinuation of sexy times?)  
>Summary: The morning after the trial, Leslie wakes up to Ben and the big question: what will she do with two weeks off from work? Warning: more fluffy than originally intended.<br>A/N: My first post and it's fanfiction? What? I tried fanfiction once in middle school for the Harry Potter fandom, but nothing since. Something about Leslie's suspension happening during the Christmas season began hopping around in my head like a good little plot bunny. Hopefully someone here enjoys it. Fair warning, this may have come out fluffier than stomachable at moments. It was not intentional.

Leslie knew that the panel had meant to punish her and Ben. Between his resignation and her two weeks paid suspension they were both being told they couldn't go to work at their favorite place. Well, her favorite place. Ben loved government, but she wasn't sure he was all that attached to Pawnee's City Hall. He seemed even less attached as they lay in bed the next morning with nowhere to go and nothing to do.

Leslie had to admit, she was starting to see his point.

He buried his face into the back of her neck, breathing in deeply with a satisfied sound. His arms were wrapped securely around her stomach and he seemed more relaxed than usual. She had missed this so much, but now there was a sureness to it that made it seem more full and solid and real. They didn't have to worry about April and Andy being suspicious when Ben wasn't there in the morning or her guilty conscious leading to fitful kicks in the middle of the night.

Instead they had slept soundly (once they had finally gotten to sleep) and Ben had woken to bruise free shins. And now they had basically been given two weeks to just be together. It was a little like a honeymoon. Well, aside from the punishment and resignation part.

Leslie smiled and let out a soft moan as Ben's mouth found her neck. She felt him smile against her skin.

But even with this adorable man's cute face kissing her shoulder, a part of her was starting to wonder what she was going to do for the next two weeks. She had never spent two weeks away from the Parks Department. Even when the government was shut down she would eat her lunch in the courtyard while she revised her history of Pawnee manuscript. It felt weird lying in bed at 8 a.m. instead of handing out flyers for the tree lighting ceremony like she had planned.

Her stomach dropped. City Hill at Christmas was her favorite time of the year. She would only have a week to get the office ready. Not nearly enough time to do the whole twelve days of Christmas. And it was going to be a lot harder to convince Tom to organize the town's living nativity scene without the extra two weeks head start. Plus she would probably have to pick between putting on the Christmas carol karaoke contest and putting on the ice sculpture contest. Well Ron's sculpture won every year anyway. But karaoke…what were they going to do without her and Ann's rendition of Wham!'s "Last Christmas"?

"What's wrong?" asked Ben, his voice muffled by her blond curls.

Crap. He had lost his job for her yesterday and she was ready to complain about missing work for two weeks? She felt her legs jerk a little as the guilt started to sink in.

"Uh, I just realized I forgot my morning jog. Yeah I missed out on my 10K with Mrs. Schuster. You know Mrs. Schuster? She lives next door? She's 80, but she ran two marathons last month. Have you met her? You should meet her. Come on, let's go meet her."

"Isn't she the one with the walker?" Ben asked lightly as he pulled her back into his bare chest. Double crap.

"It's just a prop. She actually holds the Pawnee record for fastest senior sprinter. She uses the walker to throw off the competition."

"And I thought exercise was created by the Devil to make people join gyms in Eagleton."

Triple crap. Leslie remembered telling him that when Chris had pitched a city wide Turkey Trot. Why did he have to have such a good memory? Really, it was the most annoying thing about him right now. Although it was nice when he remembered she only liked the rainbow sprinkles on her frozen yogurt even though he claimed all sprinkles tasted the same. But right now it was just annoying.

"Leslie, I know you want to be at work. I'm really sorry that you can't go in today," he said sadly, his forehead pressed into her back and her stomach seemed to drop even farther. He had just lost his job and he felt bad that she couldn't go to work?

She groaned and turned in his arms.

"How are you real? No seriously, what did I do to deserve you?" she asked honestly. She rubbed the scruff growing along his jaw and he reached up to wrap his fingers around her much smaller ones. He looked down at their hands as he took a deep, shaky breath.

"I ask myself the same thing about you every day. You know that right? How happy I am? How incredibly thankful I am to be here with you right now?" he looked so earnest, like a puppy dog that wanted her to take him home and wrap him up in a flannel blanket in front of the fire while she fed him waffles…or cut up calzone pieces. Dogs ate those things, right? Well maybe not the calzones.

She felt like an idiot the way her face refused to stop smiling, or she would have if she weren't so happy at that very moment. Who said she couldn't have Ben and her karaoke and ice sculpture contests? She was Leslie fucking Knope and this was going to be the best month-leading-up-to-Christmas-celebration yet if it meant she could have Ben underneath the mistletoe. She made a mental note to buy enough mistletoe for every doorway in the house. The front door, the kitchen, her bedroom (of course), did the medicine cabinet count as a door?

"Okay seriously, what are you planning?" asked Ben.

"Do you have any opinions on living nativity scenes?"

"That sounds incredibly creepy."

"What about Christmas Carols?"

"Mm…well I do love a good Wham! song."

Yes, this was going to be the best Christmas season yet.


End file.
